Do you take your tea with a dash of blood? How about a spoonful of dead mouse? PETA's new parody of a Nestea commercial from the '80s shows viewers why they should avoid the brand and "take the CruelTEA plunge":

Nestea insists on testing on mice and rats in an attempt to make health claims—despite the fact that U.S. and European regulators have stated that tests on animals are not sufficient to prove health claims about food and beverage products. One test involved locking highly social mice in dark chambers and painfully shocking their sensitive feet. In another test, experimenters injected mice with chemicals to make them develop diabetes and then force-fed them tea ingredients.

Share the new ad on Facebook and Twitter to urge everyone you know to "take the CruelTEA plunge" by pledging to drink only cruelty-free tea. Please also click here to urge Nestea to stop testing on animals. Unless you want to quench a thirst for cruelty, Nestea is one brand to avoid like the plague.

Written by Heather Faraid Drennan

After we told you earlier this week how animals were being tormented and killed in crude experiments for Nestlé's tea brand, Nestea, Nestlé went into crisis mode, furiously tweeting that its "#Nestea product has never been tested on animals." But just like Nestlé's tainted teas, you shouldn't swallow its desperate attempt to spin the ugly truth.

While Nestlé's final tea products may not be tested on animals, the ingredients of Nestlé's tea products—including Nestea—have been repeatedly tested on animals, according to published studies. But don't take our word for it—you can watch as Nestlé's own U.S. CEO admits it. In these tests, mice and rats have been poisoned, electrically shocked, surgically mutilated, and decapitated.

Nestlé claims that "[a]ll safety authorities rely on animal testing as part of the dossier that industry has to provide to demonstrate that foods are safe when there is no history of safe use" and that Nestlé's tea experiments on animals provide a basis for developing food with "novel ingredients," i.e., that its tests are conducted for safety purposes. But not only has the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) written to PETA stating that it's "not aware of any circumstances that would result in the FDA requiring a food or beverage company to conduct laboratory experiments on animals," Nestlé also forced animals to ingest common tea ingredients (green tea extracts, flavonoids, catechins, etc.) to determine their health properties, not safety. In fact, none of Nestlé's published tea studies on animals that PETA identified involved tests for safety of the ingredients—meaning that Nestea's "safety" claims are false.

You can learn more and send a message to Nestlé that cruelty to animals isn't your cup of tea at NesteaCruelTea.com.

Written by Jeff Mackey

What do you get when you mix PETA, a company that tests on animals, and a roomful of eco-friendly executives? A round of applause, which is what happened when an animal advocate stood up during the Industry Water Award Ceremony in Stockholm and asked Nestlé Chair Peter Brabeck-Letmathe when its tea brand, Nestea, will stop carrying out painful and deadly experiments on animals and switch to cruelty-free non-animal testing methods.

A few weeks ago, Nestlé USA CEO Brad Alford got the same surprise inquisition at the Grocery Manufacturers Association Conference in Colorado Springs.

Experimenters working for Nestea have injected mice with toxic chemicals in order to give them diabetes, then force-fed them tea ingredients before killing them. In another experiment, mice were force-fed tea extracts and then had their leg muscles cut open before being decapitated. In still another test, mice bred to suffer brain damage and rapid aging were locked in dark chambers, and painful shocks were administered to their sensitive feet before the mice were killed.

Not only are these tests not required by law, the results also aren't even admissible as proof of tea's health benefits—the very reason that Nestlé claims it conducts the experiments. You can give Nestlé executives a surprise of your own by visiting PETA's new website, NesteaCruelTEA.com and e-mailing AlfordCEO of Nestlé S.A. Paul Bulcke and to ask them to call off the killing.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

The maker of the popular iced tea beverage Nestea is torturing mice and rats in experiments in an attempt to examine the health effects of tea, even though these deadly experiments are not required by law and humane in vitro and human clinical studies can be used to justify health claims for tea products.  

stark23x/cc by 2.0

No tea for me, please.

 
Nestlé (the maker of Nestea) and the experimenters it hires to do its dirty work have used mice who are made to suffer from brain dysfunction and rapid aging, force-fed them green tea extracts, and locked them in a dark chamber where they receive painful shocks before they are killed. In one pointless and cruel test, mice made to suffer from muscle degeneration were fed green tea extracts, after which experimenters cut open the animals' leg muscles and killed the mice "by decapitation."

Just four months ago, the maker of Lipton tea agreed to stop testing on animals after meeting with PETA and hearing from more than 40,000 of our supporters. Let's go two for two. Please contact Nestea today and urge it to spare animals from torturous tea tests.

Written by Michelle Sherrow